⦁ A clean install of Windows 7 (x86 or x64)
⦁ Run Windows Update and install ALL updates and patches
⦁ Make sure Windows 7 service pack 1 is installed
⦁ Make sure that .NET 3.5.1 framework is turned on in Windows features
⦁ Install .Net 4.0 extended (full) framework
⦁ Install SQL Compact Edition 3.5 (x86, then x64 if you are using windows 7 64 bit)
⦁ Run Windows update again and install all updates and patches
⦁ Install IE9. It's not required for Centrafuse, but you'll keep getting asked about it so you might as well do it now.
⦁ Run Windows update one last time.

At this point, you should have a fully updated, patched and prepared Windows 7 installation. If you want to install an anti-virus program, I've had very good luck with Microsoft Security Essentials. It's free, works well, has a fairly low performance impact (ALL anti-virus programs effect performance) and works without conflict with Centrafuse. Most of the major-brand AV programs should work well with CF. Before you install Centrafuse, there are a few optional items that need to be installed.

Optional setup:

Install and configure any hardware drivers (touchscreen, GPS, radios etc). Do this "one at a time" and make a note if the device adds a serial port in device manager. This will come in handy when you want to configure it in Centrafuse
Install BlueSoliel Bluetooth software. I recommend that you download the latest version directly from IVT.
Install Apple mobile device support (if you are using an iPhone or iPod.) Available in the redist section of the repository.
Install Apple application support (if you are using an iPhone or iPod.) Available in the redist section of the repository.

Stop! Take a look at your Windows event logs. They should tell you if you're having any problems with anything so far. Fix those problems BEFORE you install Centrafuse.

Now you're ready to install Centrafuse

⦁ Select a version of Centrafuse from the repository (with a .msi extension) and install.
⦁ Configure your general Centrafuse settings
⦁ Setup your audio and video folder paths and import your media library
⦁ When asked to setup other items, say yes. Open advanced settings->plugins->Market
⦁ Enter your username and password for the Market. This is the same username/password you use for the "My Account' page on Centrafuse.com
⦁ Save everything and restart CF.
⦁ Go into Advanced Settings->Graphics and turn full screen on, hide/show cursor and taskbar, adjust the screen resolution to match your screen and turn "Enhanced graphics" on or off depending upon your preference. On slower machines (Atom-class), turning enhanced graphics OFF can significantly improve graphic performance.
⦁ Re-start CF and make a note of your hardware ID (This will probably have changed if you had a previous installation on the same PC)
⦁ Go to www.centrafuse.com ->My Account, login and either reset your old license or create a new one.
⦁ When you receive your new license by email, download it to your desktop and double-click. That will install your license and you are all set.

Most of the pre-requisites listed (such as SQLCE, .NET Framework, etc) are available in the repository under "/centrafuse/x86/redist/". I'd encourage folks to just grab them from there when possible, rather than searching Microsoft or other sites for these downloads (and possibly finding the wrong version, etc).

I believe support for xp is being dropped,which is a shame for me because my audio card is 5.1 and i using stereo upmixing with a 5ch amp to have full front/rear/sub controll and it allows me to play audio properly.I tried using win 7 and it only allowed me to play mp3 audio through the front channels and movies would be 5.1 but i could not get mp3 audio to play through normally and tune the system as id like.

What about Windows XP? The pre-requisite list says you need Windows 7, but Centrafuse is supposed to support XP - has this changed?

Centrafuse 4.3.6 should work just fine on Windows XP. That said, continued XP compatibility is no longer a design goal. Future versions "may" continue to work, and we're not going to break things just for the sake of breaking them. But XP is outdated and trying to maintain backward compatibility will hinder future product development.

⦁ A clean install of Windows 7 (x86 or x64)
⦁ Run Windows Update and install ALL updates and patches
⦁ Make sure Windows 7 service pack 1 is installed
⦁ Make sure that .NET 3.5.1 framework is turned on in Windows features
⦁ Install .Net 4.0 extended (full) framework
⦁ Install SQL Compact Edition 3.5 (x86, then x64 if you are using windows 7 64 bit)
⦁ Run Windows update again and install all updates and patches
⦁ Install IE9. It's not required for Centrafuse, but you'll keep getting asked about it so you might as well do it now.
⦁ Run Windows update one last time.

At this point, you should have a fully updated, patched and prepared Windows 7 installation. If you want to install an anti-virus program, I've had very good luck with Microsoft Security Essentials. It's free, works well, has a fairly low performance impact (ALL anti-virus programs effect performance) and works without conflict with Centrafuse. Most of the major-brand AV programs should work well with CF. Before you install Centrafuse, there are a few optional items that need to be installed.

Optional setup:

Install and configure any hardware drivers (touchscreen, GPS, radios etc). Do this "one at a time" and make a note if the device adds a serial port in device manager. This will come in handy when you want to configure it in CentrafuseInstall BlueSoliel Bluetooth software. I recommend that you download the latest version directly from IVT.
Install Apple mobile device support (if you are using an iPhone or iPod.) Available in the redist section of the repository.
Install Apple application support (if you are using an iPhone or iPod.) Available in the redist section of the repository.

Stop! Take a look at your Windows event logs. They should tell you if you're having any problems with anything so far. Fix those problems BEFORE you install Centrafuse.

Now you're ready to install Centrafuse

⦁ Select a version of Centrafuse from the repository (with a .msi extension) and install.
⦁ Configure your general Centrafuse settings
⦁ Setup your audio and video folder paths and import your media library
⦁ When asked to setup other items, say yes. Open advanced settings->plugins->Market
⦁ Enter your username and password for the Market. This is the same username/password you use for the "My Account' page on Centrafuse.com
⦁ Save everything and restart CF.
⦁ Go into Advanced Settings->Graphics and turn full screen on, hide/show cursor and taskbar, adjust the screen resolution to match your screen and turn "Enhanced graphics" on or off depending upon your preference. On slower machines (Atom-class), turning enhanced graphics OFF can significantly improve graphic performance.
⦁ Re-start CF and make a note of your hardware ID (This will probably have changed if you had a previous installation on the same PC)
⦁ Go to www.centrafuse.com ->My Account, login and either reset your old license or create a new one.
⦁ When you receive your new license by email, download it to your desktop and double-click. That will install your license and you are all set.

Enjoy!

Just an FYI,

The highlighted step has proven to be a really bad idea in my case. My mocoso wifi+BT mini pci-e card came with drivers that included BlueSoleil 5.X for Win 7 X64 and that is the only version that has kept my system from an infinite loop of crashing and rebooting.

The highlighted step has proven to be a really bad idea in my case. My mocoso wifi+BT mini pci-e card came with drivers that included BlueSoleil 5.X for Win 7 X64 and that is the only version that has kept my system from an infinite loop of crashing and rebooting.

Sounds like a serious issue with that combo card. I've used almost every version of BlueSoliel from 6.x on with a variety of cheap BT dongles. I won't for a minute suggest that they all worked flawlessly, but several of them work very well with my DroidX, Droid Razr and several other phones. I've never had any kind of reboot/crash loop. That's on Win7 and Win8, x86 and x64. Buy a cheap BT dongle, disconnect the combo card and give it a try with the latest BlueSoliel version.